
Class _-X^i-i-2Ji_ 




Sherman Rogers 



Foremen! 

Spark Plugs or 

Grounded 

Wires 



By 

Sherman Rogers 



ahc. 



Published by the Author 




\6^ 



Copyright, 1922 

BY 

SHERMAN ROGERS 



By Transfer 

MAR 2 9 1924 



d/t ^"9-6^^.^ 




FOREMEN 

SPARK PLUGS OR GROUNDED 
WIRES 

Speech Delivered hy Sherman Rogers Before the Fore- 
man's School — Milwaukee Association of Commerce 

Gentlemen, before I start on the main part of 
this address I want to make a pertinent remark 
regarding my idea of the average foreman. 
Probably we'll get along better during the next 
hour: In the first place, the fact that you are 
foremen is proof in itself that you are men pos- 
sessed of initiative, with a definite desire to ad- 
vance up the ladder of hard work to success, and 
that desire in itself stamps you worthwhile men. 
If you didn't have these qualities you wouldn't 
be here. You would, in all probability, be smok- 
ing a cheap cigar down in a poolroom somewhere, 
or in attendance at some meeting where some 
"long" on hair and "short" on brain agitator 
would be telling you how little work you ought 
to do for the money you get. The fact that you 
are leaders of men proves that you have tried to 
do as much as you could for the money you have 
received, and it also proves that you have been 
long weaned from a milk bottle, and that you 
are probably even capable of doing problems 
in addition, subtraction, and multiplication. 
(Laughter.) That last remark is a satire on a 
certain type of academic theorist. I don't want 
to use sarcasm in this address, but I have read so 



4 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

many idiotic statements written from dormito- 
ries, by men who have never seen a working man, 
giving the key to success for foremen. I want 
to tell you men something right now: No man 
has any business talking about how to handle 
working men until he has worn overalls, has 
sweat with men, gone hungry with men, fought 
with men, and knows from actual hard earned 
experience what a working man's heart really is. 
(Long applause.) 

TWO KINDS OF COLLEGE MEN 

I have met, face to face, a few dormitory 
theorists who have written a great deal about the 
shortcomings of foremen. It was a rare treat, I 
assure you. But after an hour's conversation 
with some of these men I became thoroughly con- 
vinced that if they would have written a book on 
what they didn't know about the working man, 
they would have been millionaires long since. 
(Laughter.) Don't get me wrong! I have the 
greatest admiration in the world for a man with 
a college education. If a man wants to study 
law after he receives his education in a good col- 
lege, you will find that his next step is a daily at- 
tendance in smelly courtrooms where cases are 
being tried, so as to get an actual contact experi- 
ence with their profession. And that is good. 
We find doctors who spend many years in great 
institutions of learning, spending other years, 
when they graduate, as hospital interns, and 
working in free clinics where they may get actual 
experience with the main particulars of the pro- 
fession they are going to follow. But for some un- 



or Grounded Wires 



known reason men going through college to be- 
come experts in handling men, feel, in many in- 
stances, that the morning they hatch out of col- 
lege they can bloom into great experts on the 
labor problem. Let me tell you, gentlemen, that 
that is not always the case. Take the college 
man who goes through college and then spends 
a few years right down in the ranks of men, 
learning their language, their habits, their de- 
sires, their prejudices, — ^he has a right to talk, 
and they make what, by all rules of the game 
they ought to make, Al leaders of men. Why 
I make these remarks is probably obvious to 
most of you. You will be approached scores of 
times in the next year or two, to purchase a cor- 
respondence course of how to lead men. My ad- 
vice to you is that before you buy find out if 
the author of the correspondence course has ever 
led men himself. If he has, buy; if he hasn't, 
locate the closest wastepaper basket. (Laugh- 
ter. ) 

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS 

I have never been through college, but I would 
give my right arm if I had been. But everyone 
in the country lately has been contributing to 
newspapers short articles on what they consider 
the key to success. I have read hundreds of 
them. Most of them have said that hard work 
is the key to success, but that doesn't tell the 
story at all. I know men who have worked 
steadily for t^^enty-five years without missing a 
day; have worked hard every minute of that 
time; have been saving and temperate in their 



6 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

habits, and they are not only broke but utter 
failures today. They were grouches. They 
worked because they had to work to live ; not be- 
cause they considered work one of the greatest 
gifts of God, A grouch is a failure — ^yesterday, 
today and tomorrow. I pity every one of you 
men if you look on work as toil. Those of you 
who do will never advance any further than you 
already have advanced. The law of human na- 
ture will keep you right where you are. I am not 
theorizing. I don't want to appear egotistic, but 
I am going to giYe you the rock bottom, copper 
riveted key to success, and that is — No man can 
succeed unless he learns to love the job he has in 
hand. The love of work immediately puts en- 
thusiasm in everything you do. The ability to 
learn to love work is the key to the jewel box of 
success. 

I have met many of the great American 
captains of industry and finance. During my 
youth I had always pictured these men as being 
abnormally great; — if you please, men of supe- 
rior blood and brain. I am frank to tell you that 
I have no such cobwebs in my brain now. It 
didn't take me long to realize why these men 
were big men, and successful men. Without ex- 
ception, every great captain of industry or fi- 
nance that I know are men who are wrapped up, 
heart, body, and soul in their work. I have heard 
about how men of great achievement are "dollar 
lovers." That's the greatest bunk in American 
history. Builders? Yes! Builders because they 
are head over heels in love with the thing they 
are building. They have woed and won the work 



or Grounded Wires 



they have been successful in. They made of it an 
ardent courtship. Their work was as pleasant a 
part of their life frorn eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing until five o'clock at night as their home life 
from seven o'clock at night until seven o'clock 
the next morning. And so I tell you, without the 
slightest doubt, the secret of success is enthusias- 
tic application df every ounce of your energy to 
the job at hand, and to do that you must learn to 
love it. And so, whatever you do, if you want to 
succeed, if you want to play fair with yourself, 
remember that you have just as big a brain as the 
man above you, and that with the proper enthu- 
siasm and the careful elimination of grouch, and 
the spirit of knocking, you'll get there; all the 
world loves a lover; and when you have learned 
to love the job you have now, you will have dis- 
persed the clouds that have been withholding 
from you the sunlight of happiness and greater 
success. 

FOREMEN AND MEN 

Foremanship is divided into two classifications 
' — study of men and study of business. Fore- 
men — I think at least ninety percent of them — 
have come up from the ranks. They have worked 
at the job they are now superintending, as a gen- 
eral rule. These men know what a man can do 
and what he cannot. Therefore, I feel, and I 
think I am justified in making the assertion, that 
the development of future production to a 
greater standard than the present is going to be 
accomplished through foremen. I will tell you 
why: Foremen are going to recognize the neces- 



8 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

sity of spirit in industry. I am not talking about 
the occult either. The efficiency of a man is 
either raised or lowered from fifteen to fifty de- 
grees by his mental attitude toward the job, by 
his mental attitude toward the company, and by 
his mental attitude toward the foreman he is 
working under. Therefore, the foreman, having 
practical experience, is going to learn how to 
pull every ounce of spirit out of a man by becom- 
ing thoroughly familiar with the peculiarities of 
every individual under his direction. The Fore- 
man is the "key" man in industry. He is the 
point of direct contact between men and man- 
agement. He seldom has more than 25 men 
under him; rarely over fifteen. There is abso- 
lutely nothing to prevent this Under-Foreman 
from thoroughly understanding the makeup of 
every man in his crew, and beheve me, boys, that 
is the most important job the foreman has; much 
more than merely telling a man what he is to do, 
in the morning, and when he can quit, at night. 
The foreman of the future who is not a good 
reader of character; who hasn't a feeling of re- 
spect and admiration for men as a whole; who 
has not a pleasing personality — ^will find his job 
limited to a mighty small sphere. 

Foremen of the future who desire to advance 
will find that the development of personality and 
his ability to sell confidence, good will and re- 
spect to men will be a lot bigger factor in bring- 
ing an increased pay check and a higher position 
of authority, than his ability to "drive" men foi 
a short period of time. 



or Grounded Wires 



WHY SOME MEN QUIT 

Foremen of the future will have to be men who 
can keep down the "turn-over." The biggest 
factor by far in limiting "turn-over" lies directly 
in the personality of the foreman. I have worked 
all over the country with rough men. I think 
two-thirds of the men that have quit a job that 
I have worked on have done so for dislike of 
either an indifferent or arrogant foreman. Good 
men — ^hard working men — ^never say so when 
they quit. If they do not like a foreman, they 
are generally gentlemen enough to walk right in 
and get their pay check and neither ask questions 
or tell tales. The average working man feels 
that it is kind of a "stool pigeon" job to roast a 
foreman to a superintendent or to the book- 
keeper who hands him his check. I have found 
mighty few workmen who would tell the super- 
intendent of a job his real reason for quitting. 

Lumberjacks are itinerant workers and so I 
have worked for many foremen. I am only an 
average human being ; at least, I think I am hu- 
man. I have always noted that in the camp, 
where I liked the management from the foreman, 
up, and from the superintendent, down, work 
was a pleasure; time went quickly; the morale of 
the men was the highest and efficiency the great- 
est. Why? Simply because these foremen 
awakened in myself, and others who worked with 
me, a feeling of good will, respect and confidence 
and when we were thoroughly sold on these three 
quahties of our official superiors, the manage- 
ment didn't have to run around finding where the 



10 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

leak was in diminished production. There wasn't 
any such thing as diminished production where 
there was "spirit in" the crew, — confidence in 
the foreman and good will toward the Company. 
That camp didn't need industrial experts because 
those foremen pulled everything out of a man. 

I will illustrate this with a story of a western 
logging camp. This happens to be a true story. 

THE STORY OF TONY 

An Italian about forty years old had been 
working as a "road monkey" — woods' parlance 
for a road sander. He had been on the job for 
a couple of years; never spoke to anyone and 
being a very unkempt dresser, wearing overalls 
that had a score of patches on them, it was only 
natural that the men around him almost wholly 
ignored him, and the foremen were accustomed 
to slapping orders at him with an undisguised 
inflection of contempt. Finally, one of the camp 
workmen was elevated to foremanship. He had 
charge of the roads. Feeling pretty good the 
first morning over his new raise, both in author- 
ity and salary, the new "push" walked down the 
logging road, and the first man he encountered 
was "Tony the Wop." He said, "Good morn- 
ing, Tony. How does she go?" He spoke cheer- 

iiy- 

Tony looked up dazed, and noted at once that 
the foreman was not trying to ridicule him. 
That probably was the first time that anybody 
had said "good morning" to Tony since he had 
been on that job — that is, said it with a friendly 



or Grounded Wires 11 

inflection of the voice. Tony straightened up 
and said, "Fine! Fine!" 

"Tony," the foreman continued, "You cer- 
tainly have an important job; the most impor- 
tant in this camp. You have the hf e of a team- 
ster and four horses in your hand continuously. 
All you have to do is a poor job of sanding and 
immediately the life of those horses and teamster 
are in jeopardy. Their lives are entirely in your 
hand. I am very glad to know that you have 
always performed your work without a single 
man or team ever being hurt on these hills. It 
shows you feel your responsibilities seriously, 
and I want you to feel that not only I, but this 
Company appreciate the way you have handled 
this road job." 

Tony couldn't believe his ears. He only 
shaved once a week. His shirt was one of many 
colors; patches from crazy quilts down. No one 
ever said a word to him; I don't think anybody 
in that camp thought there was an ounce of real 
stuff in that unkempt figure. He was slow of 
movement. I don't believe he could have gotten 
out of the way of a falling tree quick. 

The same evening the foreman had had the 
short talk with Tony, the leading teamster 
walked into the bunkhouse and the first thing he 
said to the crew of men who were changing their 
clothes was, "By the Great Horn Spoon, that 
'wop' has throwed sand around today like a man 
'possessed'. What in the Sam Hill do you sup- 
pose struck him. He has been charging up and 
down these hills today like an electric battery." 
(Laughter.) 



12 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

Then a few days later the foreman was going 
to a dance. The camp closed at four o'clock on 
Saturday afternoon. The foreman hurriedly 
walked down the logging road and encountered 
Tony headed the same way, and gave him a jar. 
"How are you?" 

Tony stopped him. "Boss" he said very fear- 
fully, "You are going within a half mile of my 
house. Marie's got supper waiting. 'Spose you 
have supper at my house and then go to the 
dance." 

The foreman was amazed, and said, "My God, 
Man, are you married?" "Sure ting," Tony re- 
phed. "Gotta Marie and four keets — and the 
finest keets and the finest Marie." 

The foreman stood staring at the Italian. Go- 
ing through his mind was this one thought "For 
Heaven's sake, is it possible that an unkempt 
man like this could have ever hypnotized a wo- 
man to share life with him under the same roof." 
But something big within the foreman prompted 
him to accept the invitation. 

A half hour later they appeared at the edge 
of a clearing. A little two room log cabin with 
smoke enveloping suddenly loomed upon the far 
corner of the small cleared plot. Tony whistled. 
A door flew open and a woman wildly yelling, 
followed by four children, tore across the clearing 
meeting Tony half way. Tony grabbed his wife 
and the wife grabbed him, and they both sank to 
their knees while the four children romped 
around them with glee. Then the foreman woke 
up. He reahzed that here, kneeling in front of 



or Grounded Wires 13 

him, was a perfect father, an indulgent husband 
and a real man, down underneath. (Applause.) 
During the short supper, accompanied by the 
odor of garlic and onions, Marie jumped up and 
ran around the table to the unsuspecting fore- 
man, grabbed him in her arms and kissed him 
flush on the lips. Marie could not speak English 
but Tony shamefacedly informed the "boss" that 
he had just told his wife "He is the best foreman 
in America; he has treated me like a white man." 
He had fully explained to his wife what had hap- 
pened. 

I don't need to go into details beyond this, 
only to say that today, Tony "The Wop" is the 
Superintendent of Construction in one of the 
largest logging camps in the State of Washing- 
ton and is considered one of the best logging 
road builders in the Puget Sound country. 

The foreman in question walked into the 
Superintendent's office the next morning and said 
a whole library in two sentences. 

THE FOREMAN SAYS A LOT IN A 
FEW WORDS 

"Bill," he snapped, "I'll tell you every liv- 
ing man has got an electric battery in him, if 
somebody will only turn on the switch. Every 
man has a great many qualities that will grow, 
that can be brought to hght only through good 
will and confidence. If that "wop", who never 
had life enough to hardly walk, could, all of a 
sudden be converted into a two fisted, red-blooded 
peppy man, practically every man can and will 



14 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

be the same thing, if the right method is apphed 
to turning on the switch. (Long applause.) 

BLUE PRINTS VERSUS COMMON SENSE 

Now, it is possible that a fashion plate from a 
dormitory could have walked into that camp and 
showed the management where Tony was not 
performing all the work that he probably could 
perform; he could work this out on a definite 
table to show the shirking, but without practical 
experience, without confidence in men he could 
not in a million years instill the spirit that turned 
Tony from a clock watcher to one of the best, 
red-blooded, "He" men of the Pacific Northwest, 
and that is the big necessity of industry right 
now — getting team work, instilhng spirit in men. 
That cannot be done by wireless ; it can't be done 
by tables, charts or blueprints ; it cannot be done 
by force or intimidation. (Applause.) 

I have seen men quit a job at noon on Satur- 
day, apparently so listless and tired that you 
would imagine they would go to bed until Mon- 
day morning; but, two hours later they are on a 
baseball field howling like Comanche Indians and 
running like deer. Why? Simply because they 
had the spirit in the ball game and didn't have it 
in their job. That's all. 

The big job in industry is keen observance of 
actual, everyday happenings on the job; taking 
advantage of mistakes and building successes 
from the stones you stumble over daily. They 
are the safest foundation. 

But, believe in men; have confidence in men 



or Grounde d Wires 15 

and build men. Men will go to Hell for you if 
you can reach them under their coats — but it is 
the "man" in YOU, that must appeal to the 
"man" in THEM. Applause.) 

The spirit you wish engendered in men can 
only be developed by you yourself having your 
own spirit in the game, and I want to tell each 
of you Foremen, that if you are a square peg in a 
round hole; if you are "against" your Company; 
if you have a grudge — be man enough to quit. 
(Applause.) I have heard Foremen I was 
working under knock the Company they work 
for but I never had any respect for them after 
I heard them do it. Enthusiastic loyalty to the 
Company you work for is as necessary to success- 
ful leadership as salt is to the meal. If you are 
a grouch yourself, your crew will be grouchy. If 
you are only half hearted in your methods, that 
is all you are going to get from workers. You 
cannot expect an energetic, vigorous "hitting-on- 
all-six" crew, if you are coughing along on two 
cylinders. (Laughter.) It can't be done. You 
are the battery that is furnishing current for the 
crew. If that battery is weak, you are not going 
to get much response. (Applause.) 

BE "HE" MEN 

There is one thing you can't do; nobody ever 
has yet; I don't think anyone ever will. You 
can't mix enthusiasm with suspicion. It is like 
oil and water — it simply won't mix. Neither 
can you mix good will and indifference. Abso- 
lutely impossible. It can't be done. Neither can 
arrogance and efficiency work together long. 



16 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

They are also like oil and water. Whatever you 
do, for the love of Heaven put red blood into it. 
Be "He" men. Be tolerant. Develop a person- 
ality and don't rest your arms on rainbow prom- 
ises from salesmen who can sell you at "so much 
down and so much a week" the key to success. 
You have got the key to success in your own 
hand. The lock is in front of you, but it is a 
simple key and it fits a small opening. You 
can't get the key in the lock blindfolded; you 
can't do it in a "hit or miss" fashion. It won't 
work. It has got to be methodically done. Your 
own intuition must guide your hand. 

When you have developed personality; de- 
veloped fairness; developed tolerance; you will 
have developed at the same time, unconsciously, 
the main spring that drives to permanent suc- 
cess — Principle; and when that principle^ which 
is the balance wheel of civilization is thoroughly 
and permanently encased underneath your coat 
you will be able to climb almost any ladder, 'most 
anywhere; 'most any time. Because those four 
qualities develop a fifth, self-reliance, and with 
that combination nothing can stop you from 
reaching almost any goal you set out for. 

"KEEP HITTING THE BALL" 

Don't get discouraged. Real foremen must 
have patience; tolerance will give you patience. 
Many a foreman has gone "down and out" get- 
ting a little discouraged and then blowing up and 
becoming abusive when he didn't intend to. Red 
blood never gets discouraged — ^not very much — 
because red blood doesn't think much about the 



or Grounded Wires 17 

past, it is building for the future. I don't care 
how dark the future may look for you along cer- 
tain lines ; how cramped you think your quarters 
may be; how limited you think your oppor- 
tunities are, take it from me, boys, keep on Hit- 
ting the ball! (Applause.) 

It is the discouraged man that can never see 
opportunity. The discouraged man can never 
instill faith in anyone else, nor can he win con- 
fidence. You are fighting men or you wouldn't 
be foremen. You have initiative or you wouldn't 
be here, as I told you at the start of my address. 
You have the quality to make successful men, if 
you will hit the ball and keep right on hitting it. 

Babe Ruth doesn't bat a home run every time 
he goes up to the plate; it is necessary that he 
"fan" a certain number of times to finally knock 
the horsehide for a goal. Quite a story right 
there. I have seen Babe Ruth "fan" three times 
in one game — hut he swung the hat just as hard 
each time he missed as he did when he knocked 
the home run, 

"STEEL OR SLAG" THE STORY OF LIFE 

All successful men have had their dark days, 
but it is the troubles, disappointments, that tem- 
per the real hard steel of man within us. Iron 
goes through fire and comes out steely if it is 
worked right. It goes back to softer iron, if it is 
not worked right. Disappointments and discour- 
agements are the fires of experience that temper 
the real honest-to-God qualities in man, (Long 
applause. ) 

Now I will close with an illustration of what 



18 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

I mean. Two frogs were sitting on a table, envi- 
ously eyeing a pitcher of cream. One frog said, 
"It looks good to me." The other assented and 
they both jumped in. After a while they w^anted 
to get out but found they could not, as the cream 
was too deep to stand on the bottom for leverage. 
They kicked around furiously for a few moments. 
Their case looked hopeless; the pitcher didn't 
get any smaller and the necessary foundation 
didn't get any closer. After an hour of strug- 
gling in the cream, one frog said, "What's the 
use? I'm going to quit. It's impossible to get 
out," and so, stretching all four legs, he sank to 
the bottom and died. The other frog thought, 
"Not me! I'm going to kick just as long as 
there is a breath of life in me. While there's life, 
there's hope. I won't be discouraged." So he 
kept on kicking, kicking, kicking. Finally 
churned the cream into butter, stood on the but- 
ter, and jumped out of the jar. (Long ap- 
plause. ) 

I thank you. 

Excerpts of Address to Elizabeth, N. J., Foremen 

Sherman Rogers 

"SELLING THE NEW MAN THE JOB" 

I have never seen a good building that could 
stand very long on a poor foundation. I have 
often tried to imagine what would happen to 
the Woolworth Building if they had not spent 
a staggering amount of money in sinking to bed 
rock so that the four corners of the building 
rested on a foundation that nothing could shake. 



or Grounded Wires 19 

I think, in industry, very often we are tempted 
to try to build a building and then, later on, put 
in the foundation. It don't work, no matter how 
nice it looks. We might get along for awhile 
until it rains, or the frost comes out of the 
ground, then trouble starts. Ditto industrial re- 
lations. The best way to start a man on the job 
is to start the man right, and then, when trouble 
does come, financial depressions, or other ob- 
stacles that we are always confronted with, we 
find the man with confidence in the management 
— confidence in the company— is the man that 
says, "Let 'er buck; we're here first;" but the 
man that never has been satisfied — ^never sold to 
the managernent, flys up in the air, and the 
trouble starts. I've had a lot of experience, just 
like every man in this room; a whole lot of fine 
experience in taking my hat in my hand and ap- 
plying at the employment gate for work. Of 
course, the foreman cannot be held responsible 
for the shortcomings of the employment man- 
ager, and a great many employment managers 
have tremendous shortcomings. Why, I cannot 
tell you. I don't believe anybody else can. I 
have always believed it was easier to eat ice cream 
than vinegar, but there is many an employment 
manager that doesn't believe that. 

At many works, a man walks up to a youth, 
or a woman, who has a long lead pencil and lots 
of paper. He or she seldom looks up, but, with 
the snap of a gattling gun, and the personality of 
a dead salmon, yarps, "White or black? Mar- 
ried or single? Who was your great grand- 
father's eighteenth second cousin? How are you, 



20 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

when are you, what are you; if not, why not, and 
what not?" (Applause.) In many places a 
man looking for a job is on trial, and the prose- 
cuting attorney is examining him. In some of 
the places you apply for a job to an employment 
manager, you get one feeling, right at the out- 
set, and that is that the company agents examin- 
ing you are death-scared that you will pass 
muster, and get inside the works. They seem 
to leave no stone unturned to discourage the 
applicant. I have seen good men walking away 
from the gate when they were told to come back 
the next morning, and they would say to the first 
man they met, "I'd sooner work for the devil 
himself than that outfit," and I imagine that 
the employment managers here wondered why 
these men did not appear the next day. This table 
doesn't work in all places. There are many em- 
ployment managers today, with a personality. 
They are the best, and they are getting big 
salaries, but why on earth all employment man- 
agers, and those who represent him, do not try 
to "sell" the applicant the company at the em- 
ployment gate, I don't know, many of them cer- 
tainly don't, in a great many cases ; but you fore- 
men are the next man on the job. 

THE NEW MAN AND THE FOREMAN 

The man that has gotten by the gate, into the 
works, more or less disgruntled and suspicious, 
comes in contact with the foreman on the job. 
Whether that foreman handles that man right 
the very first day, means a great many real gold 
dollars to the employer. If a workman starts 



or Grounded Wires 21 

to work, and finishes the first day with his heart 
against the company, he is practically a liabiMty 
for six months. On the other hand, if he is sold 
the first day, it is going to take many a jar to 
unsell him, and even though the employment 
manager doesn't do his job right — doesn't co- 
operate with you as he should — ^you can offset it 
a great deal by selling the man the company, 
from the inside, and that can only be done 
through YOU. If you have a lot of permanently 
disgruntled, dissatisfied, kicking men in your 
crew, against both you and the company, just go 
right home, take a good square look in the look- 
ing glass, take your hat off, and you'll be looking 
straight in the eyes of the fellow that is chiefly 
to blame. (Laughter.) You don't have to kiss 
the applicant as he arrives on the job. It isn't 
necessary that you walk up and wind your arms 
around his neck; and yet, every foreman should 
do his very best in trying to sell his own person- 
ality to the applicant in the first five minutes' 
contact; and, beheve me, boys, selling yourself 
to the worker is 90 per cent of a foreman's job. 
Selling yourself means that you are selling the 
company; selling your company and yourself 
means the unselling of the radical, of the agi- 
tator. If you can sell your personality you have 
already built with solid rock a firm foundation 
of good will and confidence that will lead to co- 
operation, efficiency, and quantity production. 
(Applause.) 

No, I am not dreaming; I want to tell you 
that personality is one of the greatest forces in 
the world. It is one of the greatest assets of 



22 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

man. I am not one of those that believe that all 
the brains in the world are up in the front office ; 
neither do I believe that all the brains on the job 
are vested in the foremen. They are not ; but the 
man in the head office, and the foremen, are oc- 
cupying their present positions chiefly through 
their personality. Personality is the greatest 
salesman in the world for ability. Ability with- 
out a personality is a long time in gaining recog- 
nition. Ability with personality is recognized 
instantly anywhere. What is personality? I 
have never heard it defined, but 111 make a stab 
at it. Personality, in a nutshell, is a cool head, 
a warm heart, an absolutely tolerant brain, and a 
character that is absolutely fair to both sides at 
all times, everywhere; or, in other words, a man 
who can recognize the fact that there are two 
sides to every quarrel, and there is a certain 
amount of merit in the man that is on the wrong 
side of it. Pleasing personalities are never im- 
pertinent, seldom sarcastic, and never bordering 
on a desire to ridicule. 

I want to give you a short illustration of the 
difference between a leader and a driver. Since 
leaving the Army I have tried to think up an 
incident that would illustrate what I want to 
say without referring to the Army, but I have 
never been able to find a parallel illustration as 
a propos as the actual experience I gained at 
Camp Lewis, Washington : 

The reason I quote this story is that it graphi- 
cally illustrates the greatest shortcoming in many 
newly made foremen, and possibly, in a few 
cases, the old ones; namely, pompous display of 



or Grounded Wires 23 

authority. And mark me, foremen, no leader, 
whether the president of a company or an assist- 
ant straw boss, can gain either good will or con- 
fidence of a crew of men by making undue dis- 
play of his authority. The one thing I gained 
in my associations with laboring men that im- 
pressed me more than anything else, was the fact 
that labor, as a unit, instantly detests ostenta- 
tious authority. Before I tell my story I also 
want to point out one more salient feature of 
proper leadership in industry. The foreman 
doesn't live, never will live, who can add ar- 
rogance and abuse and get cooperation and con- 
fidence. The foreman doesn't now live, and 
never will live who can subtract confidence and 
cooperation from industry and get efficiency or 
quality production. It is just as impossible for 
a man to give a hundred per cent of his efforts to 
the foreman whom he detests as it would be to 
get an expression of gratitude from a man you 
have just struck in the face. 

Now, we will get back to Camp Lewis, and 
I'll give you an explanation of just what I mean: 

AN ARMY EXPERIENCE 

When the call to arms came, in the recent 
World War, there were a great many lumber- 
jacks who felt that sending five million men to 
France was superfluous. In the camp where I 
worked I heard a big Swede say one morning, 
"Send a few thousand lumberjacks over there 
and the Kaiser will be hunting tall timber in- 
stantly." I think that's the way they all felt 
about it — those that went. Of course, we had a 



24 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

great many radical foreigners at that time, a 
large per centage of whom had never taken out 
citizenship papers of any kind, and, therefore, 
never were called into the service. However, 
many of them volunteered. 

Our bunch went from Shelton, Washington, 
were taken by automobile to Olympia and there 
by special car to Camp Lewis. I never felt so 
proud of men in my life as I did of those boys. 
All the way to Camp Lewis they were talking 
about how they were going to make Shelton 
proud of every lumberjack that went into the 
service. They weren't going to ask for any fa- 
vors, and didn't expect any. 

I had been to Camp Lewis several times to 
see my brother who entered the service a few 
days after the war broke out. I knew they liked 
you to "make it snappy." When I thought we 
were close to the cantonment, I called the brake- 
man over and asked him if he would let us know 
a few minutes before we entered the camp limits 
so that we might form in line and leave the car 
as rapidly as possible. He looked at me dumb- 
founded: "You're sure from the backwoods," he 
said, real pointed like; "let me tell you, son, that 
when you get to Camp Lewis you'll know all 
about it, and nobody will have to tell you." 

That brakeman may not have been a highly 
educated man, but he certainly knew how to tell 
the truth. Less than five minutes later the train 
slowed down. I was conscious of a terrific bang 
at the end of the car. The door had opened. An 
officer in khaki strode down the aisle. He wasn't 
talking; just sort of bellowing. I looked at his 



or Grounded Wires 25 

shoulder. There was a single bar on it. It wasn't 
silver. (Laughter) Red in the face, he then 
bellowed, "Who has the papers?" I stood up 
quickly. "Sir, I have them." "Sit down," he 
howled; "Who in Hell told you to stand up." 
( Laughter. ) And, gentlemen, from that instant 
I knew, beyond all possibility of a doubt, that I 
was in the army. (Prolonged laughter.) 

I think there are enough men here tonight who 
can tell those who were not in the army what hap- 
pened to us in the next thirty minutes. 

The next morning we heard the bugle blow, 
and just as the final blast echoed throughout the 
parade ground and barrack limits, there was a 
terrific din. I think some of the boys really be- 
lieved the Germans had arrived. I even had a 
faint suspicion myself, but we were soon dis- 
abused. We found it was the newly made cor- 
porals and sergeants airing out their lungs ; and 
they must have had a lot of bad air in them for 
a long time. (Laughter.) 

We finally rushed out in line. I was dazed. 
Not so much because of the newness of the army 
life, but from the continuous roar of abusive 
orders from corporals, sergeants, and I could 
give special mention of the "top cutter." In 
course of time I heard "Parade Rest" given in 
a raucous, stentorian tone. Of course, I had 
never heard it in my Hfe; neither had any of 
the other "jacks." The "top cutter" nearly 
choked. I am positive that he swore in several 
languages. (Laughter.) My opinion of the 
Lnited States Army had dropped, up to this 
time, about 60 per cent. 



26 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

SQUADS RIGHT 

We went out on the drill field two days later, 
and had many disquieting experiences with 
newly made corporals and sergeants who, per- 
haps, a few days before, had been bell hops and 
bootblacks. The trouble with these fellows was 
they had been vested with a certain amount of 
authority and they were scared to death that the 
recruits would not fully recognize the tremendous 
heights to which they had suddenly risen. The 
trouble with those noncoms laid, generally, in the 
fact that they were unable to discriminate be- 
tween the authority in a corporal and a major 
general, and, being afraid that we would not 
notice their tremendous importance, they im- 
mediately took steps to see that we were duly 
informed; and I'll say one thing for them, — they 
did a good job. (Laughter.) In less than five 
minutes any stranger in the 166th Depot Brigade 
could easily point out every noncom without ask- 
ing foolish questions. — And then the fun started. 
— When a recruit made a mistake on the drill 
field the air was blue. They didn't stop with the 
drill field. They continually howled their au- 
thority in the barracks over the most trivial 
things until I really beheve that some of those 
lumberjacks contemplated suicide or murder. I 
know I could have been sent to the mili- 
tary prison for life for my thoughts alone. 
(Laughter.) I had never known what real hate 
was before I arrived in that Depot Brigade, but 
I soon learned. We were so badly scared that 
we couldn't have executed an order properly be- 
cause our feet and our brain had ceased to recog- 



or Grounded Wires 27 

nize each other. But the thing I noticed most in 
this Depot Brigade, something that fascinated 
me, was the talk of the men when we "fell out" 
for the rest period on the drill field. They were 
so choked with hateful anger that they were un- 
able to speak coherently. When we lined up at 
night I would look up and down the line, just 
before the "Fall Out" order came, and I could 
visualize a hundred and twenty-eight men whose 
eyes shone like diamonds, glistening with the fire 
of hate. I often wondered what would happen 
if we got to France with those same corporals. I 
have often wondered, if we ever got to fighting, 
whether we wouldn't have forgotten that we were 
looking for Dutchmen. I used to wonder if we 
wouldn't forget a moment, and our subconscious 
mind take some of those noncoms for disciples of 
the mailed fist. (Laughter.) 

Finally, one night, after about six hectic weeks 
in the Depot Brigade, our Lieutenant, who really 
was a white man, announced, one morning, that 
we would be assigned, that day, to our permanent 
units. We found we were going to the 1st In- 
fantry, where every officer and noncommissioned 
officer had seen from three to thirty years service 
in the United States Army, from Cuba to the 
Philippines. A few moments later the "top cut- 
ter" informed us that no longer would we be 
mollycoddled as we had been in the Depot Bri- 
gade. From now on we were going to get real 
discipline, (Laughter.) My hair stood on end. 
A big Swede hit me a slap in the back. I heard 
him mumble, "Sonny, if there's any more dis- 
cipline where we're going than we've had, I'm 



28 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

going over the hill." "Your intelligence is mar- 
vellous," I whispered; "I've just been thinking 
the same thing." (Laughter.) However, I con- 
soled myself with one thought: It would be im- 
possible to encounter more arrogance, more 
abuse, more bragadocio than we had encountered 
in the Depot Brigade. An hour later we entered 
the barracks of the 1st Infantry. There was 
an ominous silence prevailing. Generally, you 
know, there is a silence before a storm. There 
was no profanity. We could see many men run- 
ning around with corporal and sergeant chev- 
rons. We thought, for a moment, that pesti- 
lence must have struck these barracks because 
there wasn't the slightest display of authority 
by these men, unless an order was being given 
or instructions handed out. There was some- 
thing peculiar about these men. They wore 
normal size hats. (Laughter.) They gave an 
order with a snap, hut all the sting was left out, 
(Applause.) 

Gentlemen, all my hfe I had detested a Regu- 
lar Army soldier. I thought a Regular Army 
man in peace time was an individual without 
gumption enough to make three square meals a 
day on his own hook; but, let me tell you this — 
when I got among those old grizzled, tanned 
Regular Army boys I instantly realized that I 
was associating with the finest, squarest, whitest 
bunch of men I have ever been with in my life. 
(Applause.) These fellows were men. 

The next morning I heard the "first call" and 
my brain still dwelt on the Depot Brigade. I 
dressed in practically no time, made a rush for 



or Grounded Wires 29 

the bannister; went down two steps at a time. 
I saw something coming up, but I didn't have 
time to dodge it. I collided, with full steam 
ahead, with the man coming up. We both went 
down in a heap. We came up brushing our uni- 
forms, and then, for the first time in my life, my 
knees absolutely refused to support my body, 
(Laughter) because I stood there gazing on the 
chevrons of a "top cutter." In the Depot Bri- 
gade I knew that this would mean at least ten 
years. (Laughter.) He looked me over a mo- 
ment and said, "Where did you come from?" I al- 
most whispered, "Depot Brigade." He laughed 
outright; "Oh," he said decisively, "you'll be all 
right in a couple of weeks." (Laughter.) 

That morning I noticed that there wasn't a 
command given that you could hear across the 
parade ground. We were like men in a dream, 
wondering when the officers were going to break 
loose. We waited a long time. 

Six months later they still hadn't broken loose. 

We arrived on the drill field a few hours after 
this. Again practical silence, so far as the non- 
commissioned officers were concerned. When 
they gave an order it was given in an even tone, 
with all the snap in the world behind it, 
but under the snap you could easily sense respect. 

The first order given on that field especially 
applied to me. I was the pivot man. The order 
was "Squads Right." My brain heard the order 
alright, but my feet still had the Depot Brigade 
idea. They got tangled. (Laughter.) Our 
corporal, who had seen five years of service, 
called a halt and gave us fifteen minutes of a 



30 Foremen — Spark Plugs 

lecture; and before he got through, we knew we 
were going to like this part of the Army. He 
went right down the line with us. He not only 
told us, but he manifested toward us the utmost 
respect. He assured us that he was going to be 
pulling for every man in that squad every minute 
of the day. He wanted the members of that 
squad to be pulling for him the same length of 
time, but he pointed out very carefully that we 
were both trying to do the same thing — ^win a 
war. 

I couldn't write down what that boy said dur- 
ing those fifteen minutes, but every word came 
frorn the middle of him. We knew that although 
we would have to snap into every command he 
ever gave us, that little, hundred and twenty 
pound corporal had a ton of respect and con- 
fidence for every one of us, and remember, 
gentlemen, the corporals and sergeants in the 
army occupy the same position as the foremen 
and sub-foremen in industry. 

I can truthfully say that I enjoyed every day 
in that Regular Army. Bayonet drill, gas drill, 
twenty-mile hikes, all looked alike to us, but 
those officers knew how to put spirit and pep into 
men. They knew how to make men fight every 
inch of the way, and the 1st Infantry of Camp 
Lewis could walk the legs off of any other unit 
in it. But, there was no hating, no backbiting, 
no suspicion, no petty feeling between the non- 
commissioned officers and the men. The Depot 
Brigade "top cutter" was right — I never saw 
such discipline in my Hfe, but it was a discipline 
built on respect, and the discipline was main- 



or Grounded Wires 31 

tained just as much by the seven men in the 
squad as it was by the corporal or the sergeant. 

I beheve any man in that squad would have 
knocked a man down who would have fallen 
down on inspection so as to put the corporal in 
bad. 

In due time we were mustered out. I don't 
need to go into the details of that, but I do want 
to tell you that there were mighty few men in 
that regiment who were able to say goodbye 
clearly to any of the officers. That's the only 
time in my life where I ever reahzed that your 
heart could get in your throat and wouldn't get 
out of it. 

The whole idea I bring out in this story is 
this : The Depot Brigade corporals and sergeants 
had exactly the same badge of authority as the 
noncommissioned officers in the 1st infantry. 
Whereas the Depot Brigade officers had the deep 
seated hatred of practically every recruit, the 
noncoms in the 1st Infantry had the whole- 
hearted, fighting respect of every man in the 
regiment. The difference between those two lead- 
ers was this — the Regular Army noncoms built 
their discipline by engendering the utmost re- 
spect from every man under them. He was a 
leader of men, pulled all the best there was in a 
man out, and, by his leadership, maintained a 
wonderful discipline and had the one hundred per 
cent support of every man under him. In other 
words, there wasn't a man, I don't believe, in the 
1st Infantry, that wouldn't have gone through 
the fires of Hell for every officer and noncom in 
it; whereas, in the Depot Brigade, officers and 



32 Foremen— Spark Plugs 

noncoms had tried to build a discipline, but they 
tried to build it through fear ; that is, putting the 
fear of God in the hearts of the men. They were 
arrogant, and continually made an ostentatious 
display of their authority. They were not lead- 
ers. They were drivers. They couldn't have 
whipped an army into shape in a thousand years, 
because it takes spirit to win battles and wars, 
and arrogance instantly eliminates spirit, 

THE FOREMEN WHO WIN OR LOSE 

Now, there you have a concrete comparison in 
the proper way to handle men. The leader, in 
this case, was successful; the driver wasn't. That 
isn't all — ^the driver never is. But, let me put 
one more thought in your mind — don't forget 
it — ^it's one of the keys to a foreman's success — 
the difference between the Depot Brigade cor- 
poral and the 1st Infantry corporal was that one 
knew the difference between discipline and abuse, 
and the other one didnt. One led and the other 
drove. One put his personality in the game, and 
the other put his arrogance in the game. One 
pulled out of a man everything he had in him. 
The other submerged all the good. One engen- 
dered confidence and good will. The other, stub- 
bornness and hatred. And, foremen, let me tell 
you this — in 1923 no foreman is going to get 
very far who cannot discriminate between disci- 
pline and abuse, between leadership and driver- 
ship — and there is no foreman living that can 
build shop morale if he cannot engender confi- 
dence and good will in those he leads. (Long 
applause. ) 



IrH.^'iiX ^^ CONGRESS 




021 590 466 




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